Game providing device

ABSTRACT

After a game has been started, game content drawing processing, game content placing processing, and point granting and character removing processing are repeatedly executed. Thus, the obtaining of a character by each player, the placement of the obtained character in an area, and the obtaining of points and the removal of the character from the area according to an elapsed time from the placement of the character in the area are repeatedly executed. When conditions to terminate the game hold, a result of the game is decided according to the number of points obtained by each player. Accordingly, more competitive game elements are realized in a game that uses multiple areas.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based on and claims the benefit of priority fromJapanese Patent Application Serial No. 2012-192478 (filed on Aug. 31,2012), the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference intheir entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a game providing device that providesgames, and more particularly to a game providing device that provides agame executed by a plurality of players who are interconnected so thatthey can mutually communicate.

BACKGROUND

Recently known games played by using a mobile telephone, a smart phone,a personal computer, a game console, or the like are games in a categoryof so-called farm games (see Nouen Hokkorina, Online, DeNA Co., Ltd,searched for on Aug. 7, 2012, Internet<http://www.facebook.com/Hokkorina? from=fb fm>, for example). In thesegames, a virtual farm is represented by a field including a plurality offrame-like areas, and seeding, watering, harvesting, cultivating, andother actions are repeatedly carried out in each area so that harvest ofcrops, for example, can be enjoyed in the virtual farm.

SUMMARY

Although, in these farm games, the player can compete against anotherplayer in terms of, for example, the number of crops harvested from thevirtual farm, competitive game elements in the farm games areinsufficient when compared with a battle with another player or avirtual character in a game, the battle being realized in a so-calledcard game. It is desirable to realize a game that enables players toenjoy more competitive game elements while the game maintains a view ofthe world and a feeling of manipulations realized in farm games.

An object of the present invention is to achieve more competitive gameelements in a game in which a field including a plurality of areas isused Other objects of the present invention will be clarified byreference to the whole of this description.

A game providing device in an embodiment of the present invention is agame providing device for providing a game to be executed by a pluralityof players communicatively interconnected, the device comprising: acontent information storage unit configured to store information about aplurality of game contents used in a game; an area information storageunit configured to store information about a plurality of areas, whereinthe plurality of game contents are to be placed in the plurality ofareas; a content determining unit configured to determine, in responseto a request from each of the plurality of players, a game contentavailable to the player from the plurality of game contents stored inthe content information storage unit an area selection accepting unitconfigured to accept, from the player, selection of an area from theplurality of areas stored in the area information storage unit, whereinthe determined game content is to be placed in the selected area; acontent placing unit configured to place the game content in theselected area, wherein the game content is placed in the selected area;an elapsed time determining unit configured to determine an elapsed timefrom the placement of the game content in the area by the contentplacing unit; a point granting unit configured to determine, in responseto the placement of the game content in the area, points correspondingto the area from the elapsed time and grant the points to the player;and a result deciding unit configured to decide a result of the gameaccording to points granted to each of the plurality of players.

A method in an embodiment of the present invention is a method using acomputer to function as a game providing device for providing a game tobe executed by a plurality of players communicatively interconnected,the computer being operable to access a content information storage unitconfigured to store information about a plurality of game contents usedin a game and an area information storage unit configured to storeinformation about a plurality of areas, wherein the plurality of gamecontents are to be placed in the plurality of areas, the methodcomprising the steps of: determining, in response to a request from eachof the plurality of players, a game content available to the player fromthe plurality of game contents stored in the content information storageunit; accepting, from the player, selection of an area from theplurality areas stored in the area information storage unit, wherein thedetermined game content is to be placed in the selected area; placingthe game content in the selected area, wherein the game content isplaced in the selected area; determining an elapsed time from theplacement of the game content in the area; determining, in response tothe placement of the game content in the area, points corresponding tothe area from the elapsed time and granting the points to the player;and deciding a result of the game according to points granted to each ofthe plurality of players.

Various embodiments of the present invention can realize morecompetitive game elements in a game in which a field including aplurality of areas is used

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a game system thatincludes a server device in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating the architecture ofa terminal device connected to the server device in an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating functions of the server device inan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an example of a character management table in an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 5 is an example of an area management table in an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 is an example of a character placement management table in anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an example of a player management table in an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating game processing in an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a top screen displayed in the terminaldevice in an embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Various embodiments of the present invention will be describedappropriately with reference to the drawings. In these drawings, likeelements are denoted by like reference characters.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a game system thatmay include a server device 10, intended for an online game, that mayfunction as a game providing device in an embodiment of the presentinvention. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the server device 10 intended foran online game (sometimes which will be simply referred to below as theserver device 10) may be connected through a communication network 20such as the Internet to terminal devices 30-1, 30-2, . . . , 30-N(sometimes which will be collectively referred to below as the terminaldevices 30) so that the server device 10 can communicate with theseterminal devices 30.

The server device 10 may include a central processing unit (CPU) 11, amain memory 12, a user interface 13, a communication interface 14, anexternal memory 15, and a disk drive 16, as illustrated in FIG. 1. Thesecomponents may be electrically connected to one another through a bus17. The CPU 11 may load, into the main memory 12, an operating systemand other various programs that may control the progress of an onlinegame from the external memory 15, and may execute commands included inthe loaded programs. The main memory 12 may be used to store programsexecuted by the CPU 11; an example of the main memory 12 may be adynamic random access memory (DRAM).

The user interface 13 may include, for example, an information inputdevice, such as a keyboard or a mouse, that accepts inputs from anoperator and an information output device, such as a liquid crystaldisplay, to which an arithmetic result is output from the CPU 11. Thecommunication interface 14 may be implemented as hardware, firmware, orcommunication software such as a Transmission Control Protocol/InternetProtocol (TCP/IP) driver or a Point-to-Point (PPP) driver, or theircombination; the communication interface 14 may be structured so that itcan communicate with the terminal devices 30 through the communicationnetwork 20.

The external memory 15 may be, for example, a magnetic disk drive; theexternal memory 15 may store various programs including a controlprogram that controls the progress of an online game. Various types ofdata used in the game may be stored in the external memory 15. Insteadof being stored in the external memory 15, the various types of datastored may be stored in a database server, which may be a bodyphysically separated from the server device 10 and may be connected tothe server device 10 so that it can communicate with the server device10. The disk drive 16 may read data stored in a compact disc-read-onlymemory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disc-ROM (DVD-ROM), aDVD-recordable (DVD-R), and other various types of storage media or maywrite data in these storage media. For example, a game application anddata such as game data, which have been stored in a storage medium, maybe read by the disk drive 16 and may be installed in the external memory15.

In an embodiment, the server device 10 may be a web server that maymanage a web site formed with a plurality of web pages in a hierarchicalstructure. The server device 10 can provide a service to the terminaldevice 30. The terminal device 30 can obtain Hypertext Markup Language(HTML) data used to display web pages from the server device 10, cananalyze the obtained HTML data, and can provide the web pages to theuser (player of a game) of the terminal device 30. Sometimes, a gameprovided through this type of web pages may be referred to as a browsergame. HTML data used to display these web pages may also be stored inthe external memory 15. The HTML data is formed with an HTML documentwritten in HTML or another markup language. Various images may beassociated with the HTML document. A program written in ActionScript(registered trademark), JavaScript (registered trademark), or anotherscript language can be embedded in the HTML document.

A game application executed on the terminal device 30 in an executionenvironment other than browser software can also be stored in theexternal memory 15. This game application can include a game programused to execute a game and various types of data, such as image data,referenced during execution of the game program. The game program may bewritten in, for example, Objective-C (registered trademark), Java(registered trademark), or another object-oriented programming language.The created game program may be stored in the external memory 15 asapplication software together with the various types of data. Theapplication software stored in the external memory 15 may be distributedto terminal devices 30 in response to distribution requests. Theapplication software distributed from the server device 10 may bereceived at each terminal device 30 through the communication interface34 under control by the CPU 31. The received application software may betransmitted to the external memory 35 and may be stored therein. Theapplication software may be activated in response to a manipulation bythe player on the terminal device 30 and may be executed on NgCore(trademark), Android (trademark), or another platform implemented in theterminal device 30. The server device 10 may provide various types ofdata required for the progress of the game to the game application whileit is being executed on the terminal device 30. The server device 10 canalso store various types of data transmitted from the terminal device 30to manage the progress of the game for each player.

When the server device 10 manages a web site that provides a gameservice and distributes web pages constituting the web site in responseto a request from the terminal device 30 as described above, the serverdevice 10 can advance the game. The server device 10 can also advance agame according to communication with a game application executed on theterminal device 30, instead of this browser game or in addition to thebrowser game. Regardless of an aspect in which the server device 10provides a game, the server device 10 can store data required for theprogress of a game for each identification information item thatidentifies a player. Although details will be omitted, the server device10 can also have functions to perform player authentication processingat the start of a game and accounting processing generated as the gameadvances. Games provided by the server device 10 may include an actiongame, role-playing game, a baseball game, a card game, and other games.The types of games realized by the web site or game application providedby the server device 10 are not restricted to the types clarified inthis description.

In an embodiment, the terminal device 30 may be an arbitrary informationprocessing device that can obtain a game web site from the server device10 and can display the web pages of the obtained web site in a webbrowser. Examples of the terminal device 30 may include a mobiletelephone, a smart phone, a game console, a personal computer, a touchpad, and a digital book reader, but the terminal device 30 is notrestricted to these examples. In another embodiment, the terminal device30 may be an arbitrary information processing device in which anapplication execution environment to execute a game application isimplemented.

The architecture of the terminal device 30 will be described withreference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustratingthe architecture of the terminal device 30. The terminal device 30 mayinclude a CPU 31, a main memory 32, a user interface 33, a communicationinterface 34, and an external memory 35 as illustrated in FIG. 2. Thesecomponents may be electrically connected to one another through a bus36.

The CPU 31 may load an operating system and other various programs fromthe external memory 35 into the main memory 32, and may execute commandsincluded in the loaded programs. The main memory 32 may be used to storeprograms executed by the CPU 31; an example of the main memory 32 may bea DRAM.

The user interface 33 may include, for example, an information inputdevice, such as a touch panel, a keyboard, buttons, or a mouse, thataccepts inputs from a player (user) and an information output device,such as a liquid crystal display, to which an arithmetic result isoutput from the CPU 31. The communication interface 34 may beimplemented as hardware, firmware, or communication software such asTCP/IP driver or a PPP driver, or their combination; the communicationinterface 34 may be structured so that it can communicate with theserver device 10 through the communication network 20.

The external memory 35 may be, for example, a magnetic disk drive, aflash memory, or the like; the external memory 35 may store an operatingsystem and other various programs. When a game application is receivedthrough the communication interface 34 from the server device 10, theexternal memory 35 may also store the received game application.

The terminal device 30, which may have the architecture as descriedabove, may have browser software that may interpret a file in, forexample, HTML format (HTML data) and may display the file on a screen. Afunction of this browser software can be used to interpret the HTML datareceived from the server device 10 and display a web page correspondingto the received HTML data. The terminal device 30 may also have plug-insoftware (Flash Player provided by Adobe Systems Incorporated, forexample) to be embedded into in the browser software, so it can obtain afile in small web format (SWF), which has been embedded in HTML data,from the server device 10 and can execute the SWF-format file by usingthe browser software or plug-in software.

When a game is executed on the terminal device 30, program-commandedanimation or manipulation icons, for example, may be displayed on ascreen of the terminal device 30. The player can use an input interface(a touch screen or buttons, for example) of the terminal device 30 toenter a command to advance the game. The command entered by the playermay be transmitted to the server device 10 through the browser in theterminal device 30 or a function of NgCore (trademark) or anotherplatform.

Next, functions of the server device 10 realized by the constituentelements illustrated in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 3 is a blockdiagram illustrating functions of the server device 10 in an embodimentof the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the server device 10in this embodiment may have a game progress control unit 51 that maycontrol the progress of a game, an information storage unit 52 that maystore various types of tables used to advance the game, a game contentdetermining unit 54 that may determine a game content available to aplayer from a plurality of game contents; an area selection acceptingunits 55 that may accept an area selected by a player as an area inwhich to place the game content determined by the game contentdetermining unit 54, a value information accepting unit 56 that mayaccept value information entered by a player for a placement of a gamecontent, a game content placing unit 57 that may place a game content inan area selected by a player, a point granting unit 58 that may grantpoints to a player in correspondence to placement of a game content inan area,

a game result deciding unit 59 that may decide a result of a gameaccording to points granted to each player, an elapsed time decidingunit 60 that may make a decision about an elapsed time from placement ofa game content in an area, and a character removing unit 61 that mayremove a game content when a predetermined condition holds. Thesefunctions may be realized through cooperation between the CPU 11 andprograms, tables and the like that have been stored in the main memory12 and external memory 15.

The game progress control unit 51 can transmit and receive data requiredto advance a game to and from the terminal device 30 and can control theprogress of the game for each player by managing the data for eachplayer. For example, the game progress control unit 51 may sequentiallydisplay, on the terminal device 30, web pages constituting a web sitethat provides a game service in response to a request from the terminaldevice 30. When a hyperlink on a displayed web page is selected by theplayer, the game progress control unit 51 may transmit new HTML datacorresponding to the selected hyperlink to the terminal device 30. A webpage based on this new HTML data may be displayed on the terminal device30. Since web pages stored in the server device 10 are sequentiallyprovided by the game progress control unit 51 to the terminal device 30in response to a manipulation by a player in this way, the player canuse a function of the game progress control unit 51 to advance the gameaccording to a manipulation by the player.

When a game application is executed on the terminal device 30, the gameprogress control unit 51 can transmit various types of data used in thegame to the game application. When, for example, the game progresscontrol unit 51 receives, from a game application in the terminal device30, a control signal indicating that a prescribed mission has beencleared, the game progress control unit 51 may transmit variousparameters related to a next mission after the cleared mission to thegame application. The game application can load the data provided by theserver device 10 and can advance the game.

The terminal device 30 can use a function of browser software or a gameapplication to appropriately transmit, to the server device 10,information indicating various parameter values used in a game (such asthe number of obtained game points and information related to obtaineditems), information indicating a status (such as information identifyingan achieved mission), and other information related to the progress ofthe game. The game progress control unit 51 can store, for each player,information related to the progress of the game received from aplurality of terminal devices 30 to control the progress of the game foreach player. When a player logs in to the server device 10 by using theID of the player, therefore, the game may be restarted from a stagecorresponding to the progress of the player (stage immediately beforethe interruption, for example) according to the information, related tothe progress of the game, that the server device 10 may retain incorrespondence to the player. The information required for the progressof a game may also be managed by other various functions of the serverdevice 10 besides the game progress control unit 51, as described later.

Examples of various games provided to the server device 10 may include aso-called card game, in which players use their own electronic cards toplay against other players, and a role-playing game that advancesthrough a play between a player character and a competition character.An embodiment of the present invention may provide an area capturinggame, in which a plurality of players joining in a game may play againstone another by placing a game content in each of a plurality of areasconstituting a game field and obtaining points corresponding to thearea, as one of games that can be provided.

As tables used to advance the area capturing game, the informationstorage unit 52 may store a character management table 52 a that maymanage information related to characters, which are game contents usedin the game, an area management table 52 b that may manage informationrelated to areas in which to place characters, a character placementmanagement table 52 c that may manage information related to characterplacement in areas, and a player management table 52 d that may manageinformation related to players joining in the game.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of the character management table 52 a. Incorrespondence to a character ID, which identifies a character, thecharacter management table 52 a may store a standard calorie intakespeed, which is a parameter value possessed by the character, and otherinformation, as illustrated in FIG. 4. In the area capturing game inthis example, each area may be represented by food (creme caramel, forexample) and points obtained by a player may be represented by foodconsumption (calorie intake) by a character (bear, for example).Accordingly, the standard calorie intake speed managed in the charactermanagement table 52 a indicates a speed at which points are obtained byeach character.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of the area management table 52 b. Incorrespondence to an area ID, which identifies an area, the areamanagement table 52 b may store a game field ID, which identifies a gamefield to which the area belongs, an intra-field position, whichindicates position coordinates of the area in the game field, standardcalories indicating calories at the start of the game, remainingcalories that remain in the area, and other information, as illustratedin FIG. 5. Although details will be described later, the value of thestandard calories may be set as the remaining calories at the start ofthe game. When each player takes calories (obtains points) during theprogress of the game, the taken calories may be subtracted Although eacharea is identified by an area ID, it can also be identified by acombination of a game field ID and an intra-field position.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of the character placement managementtable 52 c. In correspondence to an area ID, which identifies an area,the character placement management table 52 c may store a character ID,which identifies a character placed in the area at that time, a playerID, which identifies a player who has placed the character in the area,PP used, which indicates the number of player points (PP) as valueinformation entered by the player at the placement of the character inthe area, taken calories, which are calories taken by the placedcharacter while in this area, a placement time at which the characterwas placed in this area, and other information, as illustrated in FIG.6.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the player management table 52 d. Incorrespondence to a player ID, which identifies a player, the playermanagement table 52 d may store held PP, which indicates the number ofplayer points (PP) that is being held by the player and is usable in thearea capturing game, a field ID, which identifies a game field in thearea capturing game in which the player is joining, a team ID, whichidentifies a team to which the player belongs, a character ID, whichidentifies a character usable to the player at that time, cumulativecalories, which indicate a cumulative value of calories that the playerhas taken in the game field in the area capturing game in which theplayer is joining, and other information, as illustrated in FIG. 7.

Next, operation of the server device 10, structured as described above,in an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 8 is aflowchart illustrating an example of game processing executed by theserver device 10. In the game processing, preprocessing, in whichvarious processes required before a game is started are performed, maybe first executed (step P100). Examples of various processes performedin the preprocessing may include a process to provide data indicatingthat an area capturing game will be started to the terminal device 30 ofa player who is executing another game provided by the server device 10,a process to accept a registration of participation to the areacapturing game from the terminal device 30, and a process to accept datarequesting formation of a team from the terminal devices 30 ofindividual players and manage the formation of a team. Although detailsare omitted, when formation of a team is managed, the team ID of a teamto which players belongs may be set in the team ID field of the playermanagement table 52 d.

If a condition to start the area capturing game holds, start processing,in which various processes required to start the game are performed, maybe executed (step P102). An example of the condition to start the areacapturing game may be that a time predetermined by a game provider thatprovides the game is reached. Examples of various processes performed inthe start processing may include a process to provide data indicating astart of the area capturing game to the terminal devices 30 of theplayers for whom participation has been registered in advance and aprocess to make a setting so that a top screen, described later, of thearea capturing game can be provided to the terminal devices 30 of theplayers.

The top screen 70 illustrated in FIG. 9 will now be described, the topscreen 70 being a basic screen to play the area capturing game. Asdescribed above, when the start processing in step P102 is executed, thetop screen 70 can be provided to the terminal device 30 of each player.The top screen 70 may include a basic information display part 72, inwhich a remaining time in the game and a cumulative calories of theplayer are displayed, a game field display part 74, in which a gamefield including a plurality of areas is displayed, a PP selection part76, in which choices of player point counts used as value information tobe entered are displayed so as to be selected when the character isplaced in the area, and a character display part 78, in whichinformation related to characters usable to the player at that time isdisplayed, from the top of the screen toward the bottom as illustratedin FIG. 9. In this example, the game field is represented as 20 cremecaramels in a matrix of four rows and five columns.

Referring again to the flowchart in FIG. 8, after the start processingin step P102 has been executed, game content drawing processing (stepP104), in which a game content (character) is determined by drawing inresponse to a request from the terminal device 30 of each player, gamecontent placing processing (step P106), in which the game content isplaced in an area, and point granting and character removing processing(step P108), in which points are granted to players and the game contentis removed, are repeatedly executed until the game is terminated.

In the game content drawing processing (step P104), when data requestingdetermination of a character to be placed in an area by drawing isreceived from the terminal device 30 of a player, a character may bedetermined from the characters managed in the character management table52 a by drawing, and the determined character may be displayed in thecharacter display part 78 on the top screen 70 on the terminal device 30of the player who has requested drawing. The character ID of thedetermined character may be stored in the player management table 52 din correspondence to the player ID of the player who has requesteddrawing. Various methods can be used to determine a character bydrawing. For example, pseudo random numbers generated in a pseudo randomnumber generation method can be used On the character display part 78 onthe top screen 70 in an embodiment, information related to the calorieintake speed of the determined character may be displayed together witha picture of the character (in the example in FIG. 9, “Speed×2” isdisplayed, indicating that the calorie intake speed is twice (200calories/minute) 100 calories/minute, which is the calorie intake speedof a normal character).

In the game content placing processing (step P106), data used to selectan area in which to place the character and data that indicates playerpoints used in the placement of the character may be received from theterminal device 30, after which the character placement management table52 c may be updated with the received data. The data received from theterminal device 30 may be data transmitted according to a manipulationmade by the player on the top screen 70. That is, the data received fromthe terminal device 30 may be data transmitted from the terminal device30 when the player selects a desired area from the choices displayed inthe game field display part 74 as the area in which to place thecharacter displayed in the character display part 78 on the top screen70 and then selects a player point count to be entered from the choices(three choices, 1PP, 2PP and 3PP, in the example in FIG. 9) displayed inthe PP selection part 76 on the top screen 70. In the game field displaypart 74, a player cannot select an area in which another character hasbeen already placed or an area in which the remaining calorie is zero.Data to select an area may be sent as position coordinates on the gamefield. In the PP selection part 76, a player can select a point countwithin the range of the player points held by the player (the playerpoints are managed as the held PP in the player management table 52 d).The character placement management table 52 c may be updatedspecifically by obtaining, from the area management table 52 b, the areaID corresponding to the intra-field position and the game field ID(managed in the player management table 52 d) of the game field in thearea capturing game in which the player is joining and by setting theplayer ID of the player and the character ID (managed in the informationstorage unit 52) of the character to be placed in the characterplacement management table 52 c in correspondence to the area ID. In thecharacter placement management table 52 c, the player point countreceived from the terminal device 30 may be set in the PP used field,the current time may be set in the placement time field, and an upperlimit (15 minutes, for example) of a time during which the character canstay in this area may be set in the remaining time field. Zero may beset in the taken calories field because the character has not takencalories at that time.

In the point granting and character removing processing (step P108),calorie intake by the character during the elapsed time from theplacement of the character in the area may be calculated frominformation managed in the character placement management table 52 c andthe character may be removed. The elapsed time from the placement of thecharacter in the area can be calculated from the current time and theplacement time in the character placement management table 52 c.

In an embodiment, the calorie intake may be calculated at one-minuteintervals from the standard calorie intake speed (stored in thecharacter management table 52 a) of the character and the PP used(stored in the character placement management table 52 c), which isplayer points used in the placement of the character. If the PP used is1PP, the calorie intake at one-minute intervals may be the same as thestandard calorie intake speed of the character. For example, if thestandard calorie intake speed of the character is 100 calories perminute, the calorie intake may be 100 calories; if the standard calorieintake speed of the character is 200 calories per minute, the calorieintake may be 200 calories.

In an embodiment, the standard calorie intake speed of the character canbe changed according to the value of the PP used. For example, if the PPused is 1PP, the standard calorie intake speed may remain unchanged; ifthe PP used is 2PP, the standard calorie intake speed may be doubled; ifthe PP used is 3PP, the standard calorie intake speed may be quadrupled.That is, even if identical characters at a standard calorie intake speedof 100 calories per minute are placed, when the PP used is 1PP, 100calories may be taken each time one minute elapses; when the PP used is2PP, 200 calories may be taken each time one minute elapses; when the PPused is 3PP, 400 calories may be taken each time one minute elapses. Inanother embodiment, the remaining calories may change depending on thevalue of the PP used. For example, if the PP used is 1PP, the remainingcalories may remain unchanged; if the PP used is 2PP, the remainingcalories may be doubled; if the PP used is 3PP, the remaining caloriesmay be quadrupled. Whether the standard calorie intake speed of thecharacter or the remaining calories in the area are changed according tothe PP used may be determined by the player or the character to beplaced (that is, there may be characters that change the standardcalorie intake speed and characters that change the remaining calories).Furthermore, it may be possible to change both the standard calorieintake speed of the character and the remaining calories in the areaaccording to the value of the PP used. In this case, rates in change(magnifications in increase) for the standard calorie intake speed andthe remaining calories change, for example, may be set so that theymatch.

The calorie intake calculated in this way may be added to the takencalories in the character placement management table 52 c. Since theremaining calories in the area are reduced by the calorie intake, thecalorie intake is subtracted from the remaining calories in the areamanagement table 52 b. Since the cumulative calories of the player areincreased, the calorie intake is added to the cumulative calories in theplayer management table 52 d.

A character may be removed when the elapsed time from when the characterwas placed in the area has reached a predetermined upper time (15minutes, for example). In an embodiment, a character may also be removedwhen the remaining calories in the area fall to zero (that is, thecumulative value of calories taken by characters placed by individualplayers reaches the standard calories in the area) even before theelapsed time reaches the upper limit. A character may also be removed atanother timing. Specifically, a character may be removed by deleting arelevant record in the character placement management table 52 c.

In an embodiment, if the remaining calories in an area fall to zero as aresult of calorie intake by a placed character, a predetermined awardmay be granted to a player who has placed the character by which theremaining calories has been reduced to zero. For example, the playerpoint count may be recovered to the maximum value as an award. Anotherexample of an award may be an item to favorably advance the game. Theplayer to which an award is granted may not be limited to a player whohas placed the character by which the remaining calories has beenreduced to zero; other players who had placed a character in the areabefore that player may also be granted. In this case, an award may begranted to each player according to the calories taken in the area(according to the degree of contribution to calorie intake in the area).

When the game content drawing processing (step P104), game contentplacing processing (step P106), and point granting and characterremoving processing (step P108) are repeatedly executed as describedabove, the obtaining of a character by each player, the placement of theobtained character in an area, calorie intake according to the elapsedtime, and character removal may be repeatedly carried out.

If a predetermined condition to terminate the game holds (step P112),game result determining processing to determine a game result may beexecuted (step P114). In an embodiment, the game may be terminated whena predetermined game termination time is reached. In an embodiment, thegame may also be terminated when the remaining calories fall to zero inall areas even before the predetermined game termination time isreached. Of course, the game termination condition may be anothercondition. In the game result determining processing (step P114),calorie intake by each player may be compiled for each team and whetherthe team has won or lost may be determined according to the number ofcalories taken by the team. Specifically, calorie intake by each teammay be complied by using the team ID to compile the cumulative caloriesstored in the player management table 52 d for each team.

As described above, an embodiment of the present invention may provide agame that may use a game field including a plurality of areas; in thegame, each player may place a character obtained by drawing in an areaand a plurality of players may play against one another to obtain points(calorie intake) in the area in which the character has been placed.Accordingly, a game that can achieve more competitive game elements canbe provided while the game maintains a view of the world and a feelingof manipulations realized in, for example, farm games in which an areain a game field is selected and an action is taken. In addition, sincethe player selects a player point count to be entered when the playerplaces a character and obtained points are changed according to theentered player point count, game characteristics can be furtherimproved.

Although, in an embodiment, a character to be placed in an area by aplayer has been determined by drawing, another method may be used todetermine the character. For example, a plurality of game contents heldby a player may be managed in advance, and a game content to be placedmay be determined from the plurality of game contents according to apredetermined rule (an order preset by the player, for example).

Although, in an embodiment, a player has selected a player point countto be entered and obtained points (calorie intake) have been calculatedaccording to the player point count, this is not a limitation; theplayer may enter other information valuable to the player, instead ofthe player point count. For example, the player may enter an item or thelike possessed by the player when placing a character in an area, andthe obtained points may be calculated according to the contents of theitem. To calculate the obtained points, an arbitrary calculationequation may be set so that the obtained points are changed according tothe degree of the value of the entered item. Furthermore, valueinformation such as a player point count entered by a player may notalways need to be accepted. When value information is not accepted, theobtained points may be calculated without considering value informationsuch as a player point count.

Although, in an embodiment, a standard calorie intake speed has been setas the parameter value of a character and a calorie intake has beencalculated according to the standard calorie intake speed, it maysuffice to calculate obtained points according to an elapsed time fromplacement of the character in an area, regardless of the type ofparameter value. Furthermore, a parameter value may not always need tobe set. When a parameter value is not set, obtained points may becalculated from the elapsed time and other information, regardless ofthe type of character.

Although, in an embodiment, obtained points have been calculatedaccording to the elapsed time, the elapsed time may not always need tobe considered. For example, obtained points may be calculated from theparameter value of a game content placed in an area. Alternatively, itmay be regarded as appropriate to grant fixed points when a game contenthas been placed in an area.

Although, in an embodiment, game contents have been exemplified bycharacters, this is not a limitation; of course, game contents mayinclude electronic cards, items, avatars, and all other types ofelectronic data used in games.

The processing and procedures described in this description have beenrealized as explicitly described in embodiments, but they may also berealized by software, hardware, or an arbitrary combination of softwareand hardware. Specifically, the processing and procedures described inthis description may be realized by implementing logics equivalent tothe processing in a medium such as an integrated circuit, a volatilememory, a non-volatile memory, a magnetic disk, or an optical storage.The processing and procedures described in this description can also berealized by implementing the processing and procedures as computerprograms and having a type of computer to execute the computer programs.

Even if there is a description that processing and a procedure describedin this description are executed by a single unit, a single piece ofsoftware, a single component, or a single module, the processing orprocedure can be executed by a plurality of units, a plurality of piecesof software, a plurality of components, and/or a plurality of modules.Even if there is a description that data, a table, or a databasedescribed in this description is stored in a single memory, the data,table, or database can be stored, in a distributed manner, in aplurality of memories in a single unit or in a plurality of memoriesdistributed in a plurality of units. The software elements and hardwareelements described in this description can also be realized by beingintegrated into fewer constituent elements or divided into moreconstituent elements.

If a constituent element in the present invention is described as asingle constituent element or a plurality of constituent elements oreven if the constituent element is described without limiting to asingle constituent element or a plurality of constituent elements, theconstituent element may be a single constituent element or a pluralityof constituent elements, unless the context otherwise requires.

What is claimed is:
 1. A game providing device for providing a game tobe executed by a plurality of players communicatively interconnected,the device comprising: a content information storage unit configured tostore information about a plurality of game contents used in a game; anarea information storage unit configured to store information about aplurality of areas, wherein the plurality of game contents are to beplaced in the plurality of areas; a content determining unit configuredto determine, in response to a request from each of the plurality ofplayers, a game content available to the player from the plurality ofgame contents stored in the content information storage unit; an areaselection accepting unit configured to accept, from the player,selection of an area from the plurality of areas stored in the areainformation storage unit, wherein the determined game content is to beplaced in the selected area; a content placing unit configured to placethe game content in the selected area, wherein the game content isplaced in the selected area; an elapsed time determining unit configuredto determine an elapsed time from the placement of the game content inthe area by the content placing unit; a point granting unit configuredto determine, in response to the placement of the game content in thearea, points corresponding to the area from the elapsed time and grantthe points to the player; and a result deciding unit configured todecide a result of the game according to points granted to each of theplurality of players.
 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein thecontent determining unit determines the game content available to theplayer by drawing.
 3. The device according to claim 1, furthercomprising a value information accepting unit configured to accept valueinformation entered by the player for placement of the game content inthe area, wherein the point granting unit determines the points to begranted to the player according to the accepted value information. 4.The device according to claim 3, wherein the point granting unitdetermines the points so that, as the value indicated by the acceptedvalue information is higher, more points are granted to the player. 5.The device according to claim 1, wherein the point granting unitdetermines the points so that, as the elapsed time is longer, morepoints are granted to the player.
 6. The device according to claim 1,wherein: the content information storage unit stores a parameter valuepossessed by the plurality of game contents in association withinformation identifying the game contents; and the point granting unitobtains a parameter value possessed by the game content placed in thearea from the content information storage unit and determines points tobe granted to the player according to the obtained parameter value. 7.The device according to claim 6, wherein: the content informationstorage unit stores a point obtaining speed indicating a number ofpoints obtainable in a prescribed time, as one of parameter valuespossessed by the game content; and the point granting unit determinesthe points to be granted to the player according to the elapsed time andthe point obtaining speed.
 8. The device according to claim 1, furthercomprising a character removal unit configured to remove a game contentplaced by the content placing unit when prescribed conditions hold. 9.The device according to claim 8, wherein the character removal unitremoves the game content placed by the content placing unit when theelapsed time has reached a prescribed upper-limit time as one of theprescribed conditions.
 10. The device according to claim 8, wherein thecharacter removal unit removes the game content placed by the contentplacing unit when a cumulative number of points, corresponding to thearea, granted to each player has reached a prescribed upper-limit pointcount assigned to the area as one of the prescribed conditions.
 11. Thedevice according to claim 10, wherein when a player places the gamecontent in the area and the cumulative number of points, correspondingto the area, granted to each player has reached the prescribedupper-limit point count assigned to the area, the character removal unitgrants a prescribed reward to the player.
 12. The device according toclaim 1, wherein the result deciding unit decides a result of the gamewhen an elapsed time from a start of the game has reached a prescribedupper-limit time.
 13. The device according to claim 1, wherein theresult deciding unit decides a result of the game when, in all of theplurality of areas, a cumulative number of points, corresponding to eacharea, granted to each player has reached a prescribed upper-limit pointcount assigned to the area.
 14. The device according to claim 1, whereinthe result deciding unit totals, for each of a plurality of teamsincluding at least one player, points granted to the at least one playerand decides a result of the game according to the total.
 15. A methodusing a computer to function as a game providing device for providing agame to be executed by a plurality of players communicativelyinterconnected, the computer being operable to access a contentinformation storage unit configured to store information about aplurality of game contents used in a game and an area informationstorage unit configured to store information about a plurality of areas,wherein the plurality of game contents are to be placed in the pluralityof areas, the method comprising the steps of: determining, in responseto a request from each of the plurality of players, a game contentavailable to the player from the plurality of game contents stored inthe content information storage unit; accepting, from the player,selection of an area from the plurality areas stored in the areainformation storage unit, wherein the determined game content is to beplaced in the selected area; placing the game content in the selectedarea, wherein the game content is placed in the selected area;determining an elapsed time from the placement of the game content inthe area; determining, in response to the placement of the game contentin the area, points corresponding to the area from the elapsed time andgranting the points to the player; and deciding a result of the gameaccording to points granted to each of the plurality of players.